Unite and Conquer
by PhantomPurpleWolf
Summary: sequel to the cursed oak (read that first). 1474 years ago, Merlin sacrificed his life a second time. In 2013, Arthur awaits not just for him to return, but to find all the scattered pieces of Emrys so that they can defeat the uprising evil. But it's not easy, and it's possible to die more than once... angsty AU returnfic, no slash. (i suck at summaries, but please read!)
1. Chapter 1

SO THE SEQUEL IS HERE. I WENT WITH BLUE TURTLE OF AWESOMENESS' SUGGESTION FOR A TITLE, AND NOW IT'S CALLED "UNITE AND CONQUER" (PRESUMABLY YOU KNOW THAT BECAUSE YOU JUST READ IT)

THIS IS GONNA BE A RETURN FIC, BUT THE FIRST PART WILL BE IN CAMMLANN. (I HAVE BEEN THERE. ITS IN CORNWALL AND ITS NOW AN ARTHURIAN LEGEND CENTER).

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE CURSED OAK, READ THAT FIRST! THERES A LOT OF COMPICATED STUFF, LIKE MY AU VERSION OF EMRYS THAT NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED (APOLOGIES FOR TOTALLY KILLING EMRYS. I HAD ONLY SEEN ABOUT FIVE EPISODES WHEN I WROTE THAT STORY, SO WHEN I FOUND OUT WHAT I HAD DONE WRONG, I JUST MARKED IT AS AU.)

DISCAIMER OF DISCAIMER-YNESS. I DON'T OWN MERLIN.

PS SORRY FOR ANY GRAMMAR ISSUES. THE LAPTOP IM TYPING THIS ON HAS A DEAD SPACEBAR, AND ONSCREEN KEYBOARD ISN'T A VERY GOOD SUBSTITUTE.

* * *

It was not a good day to be Emrys, even if you had lost the title ages ago. Everything that the six - well, five, as Ganon did nothing - had strived so hard to build was now tumbling down around their ears. They looked on in horror as they saw the knights fall one by one, and Mordred slide the blade between Arthur's ribs.

"This can't happen!" panicked Elsie. "He can't die! Not now!"

"I have to get him to Avalon. It's our only chance." said Merlin, silently wishing that what he was about to do would work. He took a deep breath and stepped towards the mirror.

"_What the hell are you doing?" _

"I still have Scanlon's curse. I can still go through the mirror. If I can get out there, we're still in with a chance."

"Are you _insane?_" Elsie shrieked "You died two years ago! You're not Emrys any more! None of us are!"

Merlin was silent.

"No," he whispered, "but I'm still a warlock."

He stepped through the mirror, and the world of Emrys shattered around him.

* * *

Arthur lay on the battlefield, writhing in agony. He was going to die, he knew it. He had failed Merlin.

Merlin had been so trusting, giving him the title. They all had. They had died to save him, given him the ultimate power...and he let it slip through his fingers. If he had just been faster...Mordred would have been the only one who died that day...

But no. Fate was cruel, as he had so learned years ago when Merlin stepped in front of the fire wraiths, and sacrificed himself so that he might live. All because of his own selfishness and insensitivity. Camelot had near been destroyed.

A shape swooped down from the sky, landing with a thud. The Great Dragon.

"But..." Arthur stammered "I thought you left the country after Merlin died..."

"It would seem not, Pendragon." the beast spat his name like poison, not even trying to disguise his contempt. "I am only here because I was called. Now that I see it is you who is here, I might as well leave you to carry on with your death."

"Wait!" he called, just as the dragon turned to fly away. "You said you were called. There are no dragonlords left, so how could anyone have done that?"

"Why should I dignify that with an answer, _Pendragon? _May I remind you that it is your fault that there are no dragonlords left?"

"But..."

"YOU KILLED MY DRAGONLORD!" roared Kilgarrah "with your stupidity and arrogance, YOU KILLED HIM! You had to read that tree, didn't you? All because of your ignorance, you could not even comprehend that it was cursed! Did your father teach you _nothing? _If he feared magic so much, couldn't he at least have told you any of the legends? It was hardly unkown!" With that, the dragon turned and shot up into the sky, dissappearing into the inky gloom.

Arthur sat in silence, trying to work out who possibly could have summoned the Great Dragon. No one alive could have done it. Unless they _weren't _alive...

Excalibur began to glow.

His heart leapt as he realised what was happening. He couldn't decide whether to be happy or fearful.

A gold vapour swirled from the sword, spiralling through the air until it formed a person.

_Merlin. _

Merlin flickered, like he couldn't decide whether he was real or not.

"Where's Kilgarrah?" he demanded, casting his eyes around. "I summoned him..."

"He left a few minutes ago." Arthur was unnerved by this version of his dead friend. "I thought you couldn't leave Mundo Mortua*."

"I've got you to thank for that."

Arthur knew not to push for further details. What had happened two years ago was a sore subject for both of them.

"We need to get you to Avolon. I'll summon Kilgarrah again..."

"It won't work. He hates me. He won't help us."

" He won't help you, but he will help me." Merlin threw his head back at screamed at the sky "_teacht, dragan mór*."_

Kilgarrah swooped through the darkness, like a great spectral bat.

"Merlin! _Bhí a fhios agam é"_

_"__Ní mór dúinn do chabhair." _Arthur had no idea what either of them were saying.

_"__Cad ba chóir __dom a dhéanamh?_"

_"__ní mór dúinn a fháil chun avalon"_

The dragon shook his head.

_"Ní féidir é a dhéanamh. Ní bheidh muid a dhéanamh in am."_

Merlin's face fell.

_"Uimh Ní féidir sé bás. Níl go fóill."_

_"__tá deis ann fós rud is féidir leat a dhéanamh"_

_" Inis dom"_

_" __tá tú warlock. ba chóir duit a fhios.~"_

The dragon rose into the air and dissappeared again.

"What was that?" Arthur aksed, trying to force down the panic. "What did he tell you? Am I going to die?"

Merlin looked at the ground.

" _AM I GOING TO DIE?" _

"Yes. No. Maybe."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"you will, but not if I can't help it."

Merlin reached his hand out, his eyes burning gold.

"What are you doing?"

Arthur the pain subside, and saw the spectral Merlin solidify.

"No. No, Merlin, you can't do this. You can't."

"What am I supposed to do, let you die?"

Red blossomed on Merlin's chest, staining his tunic a dark indigo colour. The warlock choked, blood spilling down his chin. His knees gave out and he collapsed.

"I'll come back. I promise."

The once and future king wept as his best friend died in his arms for a second time.

* * *

*Mundo Mortua : Dead World

* _teacht, dragan mór_ : come, great dragon.

# "Merlin! I knew it was you!"

"We need your help"

"What can I do?"

"We need to get to Avalon"

"It cannot be done. We won't make it in time."

"No. He can't die. Not yet."

"There is still something you can do"

"Tell me!"

"You're a warlock. You should know."

* * *

ANGSTY CHAPTERRRR!

PLEASE R&R!

MAC TIRE CORCRA PHANTOM


	2. Chapter 2

539

The king stared into the empty blue eyes, sliding them closed. He couldn't go back. Not now. He couldn't just stride into Camelot with a corpse of someone who burned to death two years ago. It wouldn't just raise questions; it would bring back painful memories for all of Merlin's friends. He remembered something from Mundo Mortua.

"The one thing I miss is being able to go to Lake Avalon." Merlin had said, "It's a place for the living. The one thing I want is to go there one last time. There's...someone I want to meet there."

Avalon. Arthur hated being the bearer of bad news but whoever it was needed to know. Nobody living out there could have heard the word of his death. He would have to tell them, personally. There was nowhere else to go. There was just one thing he would need to do first...

The dark horse cut through the night like a knife through butter. It hurtled through the city gates, its rider dismounting with a soft thump. The cloaked figure sprinted across the courtyard and into the castle. As he came to the familiar doors, Arthur held his breath. Nobody could know he had been here. He slipped through into the royal chamber, taking one last look at his sleeping queen before leaving his ring on the table and vanishing from the kingdom forever.

He returned to the clearing where he had left Merlin to find Kilgarrah, head bowed in respect for his dragonlord. The dragon roared on seeing him.

"ARTHUR PENDRAGON!" he boomed. "YOU ALLOWED MY DRAGONLORD TO DIE AGAIN! WHY DID YOU NOT SAVE HIM SOONER?! WHY DO YOU DARE TO COME TO ME?!"

Arthur kept calm. "I need something. It's about...Merlin," he said, choking the name out sadly.

"What is it, Pendragon?" he asked, though obviously lacking the earlier hostility and contempt. "Why can you not leave the dead in peace?"

"Avalon. I need to go there."

"Surely you know it is too late now?"

"I do," Arthur sighed, hanging his head, "But there is somebody who needs to know. I doubt they even knew about it the first time. It was a friend of Merlin's."

"Of course. But if I find that it was for your own selfish needs, then this will not end well for you, Pendragon."

"It will take days to get there..."

"Not if we fly there..."

Before Arthur could protest, he was snatched up by the dragon's claws, the other clutching the lifeless Merlin. It was at least half an hour before they got there. Kilgarrah landed with a thud, releasing Arthur from his grasp then swooping up into the sky and gently laying the body on the verge of the water.

The dragon returned to the shore, watching expectantly. For what exactly, Arthur was unsure.

Then the waters of Avalon glowed an eerie blue, and a figure emerged from the abyss.

A girl, dark haired, her outfit seemingly made of the flow of the lake itself.

"Merlin!" she wailed, gliding to the edge of the waters.

"No...NO...it's too soon! No...please, please...please..." she sobbed. She rushed to his limp form and stroked his cheek, shaking him gently.

"Wake up, my love! Wake up!"

She turned her head to Arthur and her eyes widened.

"YOU!"

She dragged herself to Arthur, hitting him and scratching him.

"This is all your fault! He trusted you! HE TRUSTED YOU! He said you were a noble man...you are a beast...I hate you, Pendragon...I HATE YOU! How...how did he..." he screamed.

He gulped. "He died two years ago...he returned and died to save me..."

Freya screamed in anguish. "NO! EMRYS, CHANGE IT BACK! CHANGE IT BACK! Let my Merlin live...Merlin, take his place...let him die, please..." she wept. She kissed Merlin's forehead.

"Emrys can't change it back..."

"Why not?" she demanded, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Why can't he bring Merlin back?"

"Because I am Emrys."

"You are such a selfish bastard! You can do it...bring him back...for me..." her voice died away to a whisper "..._please..._"

"It's not that simple..I'm not the same as Merlin's Emrys. I have power, but not magic. I can't ressurrect the dead. Only Merlin could do that, and he's..." Arthur choked on his words, the very acid that burnt his throat. He had only been like this once before, after Merlin's first death; he had been plagued with horrible nightmares of seeing his friend with rotting flesh and hollowed out eyes. Then he had been led to Mundo Mortua, and had learned that he was still, in some context, alive.

But this time, he sensed there would be no Mundo Mortua. He had lost the connection. He sensed that he was the only Emrys left in the world. He could only pray that he was wrong.

The girl was sobbing, gasping each time she breathed. "I h-hate you, Pendragon. You have been r-ruining my life from the start! You killed me, for the Gods' sake!"

He had killed her?

"I don't remember-"

"Of course you don't, do you? The monster, the -. You shot it. It died. All live happily ever after. Well, that wasn't quite the case, was it? What about me? If you respect Merlin so much, then why did you kill me when he had tried so hard to keep me alive?" she said bitterly. "Leave us in peace. I cannot say goodbye to my love with my most loathed enemy standing by. Leave this place, Pendragon. Leave this place, and never come back..."

* * *

Arthur stepped through the white mists of Mundo Mortua.

Something wasn't right. Something definitely wasn't right.

The door to the familiar hall of Emrys was hanging off its hinges. The walls were cracked and the endless ceiling was crumbling from Gods know where.

The mirror was smashed into fine dust and therer were five fine swirls of gold in the air.

Arthur gulped. He knew them all too well. They were the same gold spirals as the one that had curled from his sword mere minutes ago. They were gone. All of them.

The remnants of Emrys were gone.

* * *

2013

Arthur Pendragon stared out of the cafe window, nursing a cup of tea. He still bore the memories of that night like scars, and they still hadn't healed.

Outside, people scurried like ants, laden with heavy bags. It had been this way for at least two hundred years; the mortals of this world panicking at the last minute. He would never be like them; he had no friends, no family. They had all died. Not that he had had any real friends after he fled Camelot. None like Merlin. He had left behind aquaintances and identities like a snake leaves it's skin . Not so long ago, he had hidden from any human contact. The war. He was expected to fight. He didn't want to dishonour Merlin by squandering his life on the front line. If there was one thing that all these years of life had taught him, it was that every second spent building up to war, the death rate would be higher when the firing started.

He had promised himself that night that he would be there when Merlin came back.

"Mr Findabair?"

He looked up at the sound of his latest name. Gwen's maiden name, in fact.

"Can I sit here?"

He looked up into a face he thought he would never see again.

_Yrene._

* * *

BLUE TURTLE OF AWESOMENESS HELPED A LOOOOOOT WITH THE FREYA BIT. AND BY A LOT, I MEAN STOLE MY KEYBOARD, TYPED PRACTICALLY THE WHOLE THING WITH ME TELLING HER RANDOM SNIPPETS. SHE TYPED FROM THE END OF "A girl, dark haired, her outfit seemingly made of the flow of the lake itself." TO "She kissed Merlin's forehead.".

OH, AND SHE IS SO GEEKY THAT SHE LOOKED UP GWEN'S MAIDEN NAME ON WIKIPEDIA AND INSISTED I USED THE RIGHT ONE.

I WAS TERRIFIED SO I COMPLIED.


End file.
